Baba Adou

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Florida, specializing in Comparative Politics and International Relations with a regional focus on the African Sahel. My research interests include religion and politics, civil-military relations, and identity politics. My dissertation offers a comparative historical analysis of Mali and Mauritania. It examines how religiously motivated insurgencies are reshaping state-society relations and prompting new forms of engagement between states and religious actors, ideas, and institutions in the region. I serve as a research assistant with the UF Center for Global Islamic Studies and as a research associate with the UF Sahel Research Group. My work has appeared in Afrobarometer, Souffles Monde, POMEPS Studies, and Africa Yearbook. I have also contributed as a country expert for V-Dem, Freedom House, the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, Human Rights Foundation, and other institutions.
I hold an M.A. in Global and International Studies from the University of Kanas and a B.A. in English from the University of Nouakchott.